Exclusive: Richa Chadda On Films, Love

Filmfare

July 27, 2013

ON PLAYING AN OLD WOMAN

"No one can take your youth away from you. If you are 27, and you play a 40 year old, how does that make you a 40-year-old? When I heard that actresses had refused Nagma Khatoon's (Gangs Of Wasseypur) role, I wondered how could they have been so stupid?" That the role won Richa Chadda the Filmfare Award is poetic justice.

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ON WOMEN-CENTRIC FILMS MADE TODAY

"Till two years ago, very few films were written for women to be able to do all that. Now is the time."

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ON BIG THINGS HAPPENING TO HER

"Imagine Abhishek Bachchan walked up to me at Sanjay Leela Bhansali's birthday party, gave me me a hug and said he was a huge fan of my work! And he starts talking about scenes from the film. And then he smiles and waves to somebody and gives me a buddy vibe. And I'm like, oh, I am partying with these people!"

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WHEN DID SHE FIRST FEEL LIKE AN INSIDER?

"I think it was the Filmfare Awards. There is a value attached to that award. It sort of legitimizes everything that you have done until that point. It sort of felt surreal – I was hanging with Irrfan and the other nominees backstage, then Saif walks up and says hi. And I was like, this is real! I am no longer a fanboi!"

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ON WORKING IN MIRA NAIR'S GOD ROOM

"I am a Mira Nair groupie. I have followed her since Salaam Bombay. To me, she’s the complete woman- intense, happy, compassionate, intellectual, at-home-with-the-world, creative and inspiring. When Nandini Srikent (casting director) met me for the short film, I was so excited that I took a ferry from my Gangs Of Wasseypur 1 promotions in Madh island, just to reach her meeting on time. Mira had seen Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! and said she liked my work. She just asked me to lift my skirt a little as she wanted a girl with nice legs for an uppity SoBo part. And it’s the most fun I’ve had. I met some great people and got directed by HER. It was a dream come true."

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TIPS FOR NEWBIES

"Be happy, keep the faith and work hard. But know your potential. If you don’t know, no one will."

"What if somebody falls in love with the photoshopped image of me and then meets me who hasn’t slept in two nights because she was shooting and has dark circles? I realize that I gravitate towards real people and I have been lucky to find some. But it’s confusing. You want to date outsiders because they have a semblance of normalcy. For them, a Friday is just the beginning of a weekend. For you, every Friday means something else. You want that normalcy but the same person will not understand why you are out the whole night, or your love for cinema or ordering film books on Flipkart, or why do you have to spend a fortune on make-up. So it’s all very tricky."